Tag / The Second City

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Travelling The 50 States – Illinois

Over my 47 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 21st state to be added to the Union: Illinois.

State: Illinois
Joined the Union: 1818
Visits: 16,000+

How do you track how often you’ve been in the state you’ve lived in your entire life, save for your time away at college?  My first “visit” came nearly 48 years ago on the day I was born at Mercy Hospital on the south side of Chicago.

I’ve managed to do 18 of the Bicentennial Bucket List: 200 Things To Do In Illinois, published by the Chicago Tribune in 2018 to celebrate the best the state has to offer in history, food, architecture, culture, sports, nature, drink, and oddities.  Among the places I visited were Water Tower, Morton Arboretum, Route 66, United Center, Skydeck at Willis Tower, the former Arlington International Racecourse, Rialto Square Theatre, Lake Michigan, The Second City, Chicago Sports Museum, and the Superman statue in downstate Metropolis.

I’ve seen baseball games at Wrigley Field, Comiskey Park, and Guaranteed Rate Field.  I’ve seen football games at Soldier Field, Memorial Stadium, Ryan Field, and Wrigley Field.  I’ve seen basketball games at the United Center, Welsh-Ryan Arena, State Farm Center, and Allstate Arena.  I’ve seen hockey games at the United Center.  I’ve seen both the White Sox and the Cubs win the World Series.  I’ve seen the Bears win a Super Bowl.  I’ve seen the Bulls win 6 NBA Championships.  I’ve even seen the Blackhawks win a Stanley Cup or two.

I’ve seen concerts at Wrigley Field, City Winery, Ravinia, the Riviera Theatre, Abbey Pub, Metro, the Chicago Theatre, United Center, Charter One Pavilion, Allstate Arena, The Vic Theatre, House of Blues, World Music Theatre, Soldier Field, and Mabel’s,

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200 Things To Do In Illinois – The Second City

Illinois celebrated its bicentennial as a state in December of 2018.  To celebrate, the Chicago Tribune published the Bicentennial Bucket List: 200 Things To Do In Illinois, celebrating the best the state has to offer in history, food, architecture, culture, sports, nature, drink, and oddities.  With the state still shut down due to the corona virus outbreak, I figured this was the second-best time to look through this collection and cover the ones I’ve done/eaten/seen.

We continue things this week with one of the entries from the Culture category: The Second City, from Chicago, IL.

Profoundly influential in American comedy, this nearly 60-year-old theater retains its edge by putting on a regular schedule of new, sketch-based shows that skewer politics and contemporary life.

It’s like Saturday Night Live, but right in front of you, and with sketches that know how to end.

I made my one and (so far) only trip to The Second City on November 4, 2017, in the midst of what turned out to be one of the worst weekends of my life.  Without getting too much into the drama of the beginning of the end of (at least what I thought was) an important friendship, a night out with my college friends was a nice respite from everything else that was swirling around me at the time.  I’d certainly like to go back sometime, perhaps to see what they make of this whole shelter-in-place craziness.

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Fitbit III: Week 40

An overall decent week, with each day finishing over my 6500 step goal.  Things got off to a decent start on Sunday thanks to a birthday celebration with the family.  Monday jumped up over 8000 steps thanks to upgrade related trips around the building at work.  Tuesday was back down around 7000 steps, with Wednesday and Thursday both surpassing that plateau.  Friday was the big day of the week, coming in over 8500 steps thanks to an after work trip to Rosemont with Jeff, Hayley, and Val.  Saturday used a trip down to The Second City to come in over 7500 steps.

Total steps: 52,345

Daily average: 7477.9

by jim

Book 15 (of 52) – Bossypants

Bossypants - Tina Fey

Bossypants – Tina Fey

Tina Fey delivers a home run here, telling her story of going from her childhood home in Pennsylvania to the University of Virginia to Chicago and Second City and, finally, to New York for Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock.  Fey easily weaves humor throughout her story while still hitting upon social commentary of the role of women in comedy and trying to be successful, both in the workplace and at home, as a working mother.

Reading this book made me realize how much I miss having 30 Rock on the air, not so much for the show itself, but for having a weekly dose of Tina Fey in my life.  While the book delivered, it was sadly over too quickly.